Forty Under 40

Christopher Brauser, 35

Managing director,
BBP Partners, LLC

Christopher Brauser describes himself as the “resident nerd” at the two companies he co-founded.

“I'm better with a marker and a marker board than any other type of tool,” he said.

Mr. Brauser said his mathematical know-how, coupled with a good “bedside manner,” have given him the skills he needs to explain complicated financial information to juries as part of BBP Partners, a business that supplies forensic witnesses and litigation support.

Mr. Brauser started his career in litigation and bankruptcy at PricewaterhouseCoopers and spent five years at Deloitte, but said the large accounting firm did not offer him many opportunities to do the kind of work he wanted after the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, post- Enron. That was because the laws restricted what kind of work the firm could do for people it audited.

So with Deloitte's blessing, he and a partner left the company to start their own business.

“I fell into this business and I liked it because I'm good at it,” Mr. Brauser said. “I'm taking something that's complicated and making it something so someone can understand it.”

He also founded AML RightSource, a company that provides anti-money laundering services to small banks nationwide.

The idea, he said, is to give community banks the same access to technology and expertise that large banks can afford, allowing them to remain compliant with government requirements.

Mr. Brauser, who attended The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the London School of Economics, said he's always been “a Cleveland kid,” believing in Cleveland in good times and bad. He had the chance to stay in London, he said, but wanted to return home.

He grew up in Hartville but now lives in downtown Cleveland, and is a member of the board at the art gallery SPACES.

Christopher Lynn, executive director of SPACES, said Mr. Brauser was instrumental in getting the gallery through a period of transition when a longtime director retired and a new director stayed on board for just three months.

“He did a lot of the heavy lifting before I even got here,” Mr. Lynn said. “Chris helped get the books in order, figure out the finances.”

Mr. Lynn also described Mr. Brauser as a “funny guy” and said he likes to lighten the mood at board meetings.

Despite the sometimes technical nature of his work with AML RightSource and BBP, Mr. Brauser sees himself doing his best work when it's of a creative nature.